The Wanderlust

My Scholarship entry - Wandering Adventures

USA | Friday, November 21, 2014 | 5 photos

When my mom left my Dad and I shortly after I was born, I didn't know it at the time, but I was destined to spend the next 17 years of my life being raised by a single father who was too poverty stricken and emotionally drained to do anything but get through each day the best way he could. Needless to say, there was no time, energy or money for travel so I spent the first half of my life in a small town of 1500 people in Oregon.

Now that I'm an adult, despite what I believe to be my destiny of wandering the planet alone, I have a passion, no a need, for travel and exploration. Combined with my love of photography that I recently discovered within the last five years or so and I feel like I finally found a purpose that I'm trying to follow. In the past few years, I've spent six days roaming the island of O'ahu in Hawai'i by myself, celebrated turning 30 in New York City, met my half sister and grandmother for the first time in Missouri and learned to maneuver the left side of the road for nine days on the North Island of New Zealand. I've explored Lake Tahoe and Yosemite with my dog and taken my Dad to see the wonders of Yellowstone. Exploration flows through my veins.